Metal framing for building construction



July 13; 1937.

T. J. FOSTER METAL FRAMING FOR BUILDING CONSTRUCTION Filed May 4, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet l y 1937- T. J. FOSTER METAL FRAMING FOR BUILDING CONSTRUCTION Filed May 4, 1934 2 Shets-Sheer. 2

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STRUCTIU Thomas J. Foster, Ridgewood', Na Application May 4, 193 .,,,SerialNo. 723,985,

12 Claims.

This. invention relates to metal building construction and aims generally to improve the same, particularly with reference to light structural steel. framing for residence construction, and

';comprises novel modes of setting up and connect- -;.of the framing cost, exceeding the cost of the,

beams themselves. In addition, the standard joint construction details heretofore used in practice cannot be made to look neat and have not been of a self concealing character, so that their use has entailed expense for covering the beams and, connections in residence work. Moreover, the standard connections and framing details,

and most special construction details as heretofore developed, have been either excessively loose when assembled, requiring permanent pinning or other treatment involving labor and expense, or have required expensive framing of one member into another, or the use of numerous bolts, rivets and connection angles, rendering it difiicult to get the top surfaces of the beams exactly flush with one another, or have had other disadvantages mitigating against their use. Furthermore,

' with the advent of field welding of structural beams to one another, the use of complicated I and expensive bolted or pinned connections, in-

volving considerable forming of the beam ends, and which. function mainly simply to hold the beams in place during welding, has been a material burden, as has thefact that in using belts or rivets, the holes therefor must be made oversize, increasing the di-fiiculty of getting the beams fiush onztop.

ell, thesel objeotions; are either geliminated or materially minimized by my present invention,- i, which provides a building construction in which the. frame members may be substantially, and in most instances completely,pre-fabricated as regards connection structure, and, in which the assembly of the parts may be greatly simplified,

; and the beam connections may be neatly made in asubstantially self-concealed manner- Other j advantages are the more accurate positioning. of

the parts and greater speed in assembling them,

expediting field welding where this is employed;

- the; slabbing and finishing materials maybe em- (Cl. Bil-36) ployed to supply allor a substantial part of such bracing and permanentsecurement as may be required by; the frame-members whereby field welding may-be eliminated or minimized as desired, particularly in thecase of residence construction; and the stool; of parts may be reduced by different types: of connections according tothe invention; and V Figs. 2' and 3; 4 and 5.; 6,7, and'S; and 9, 10, and 11. are details, respectively, of illustrative forms of connections shown generally in Fig. 1; Figs. 2, 4, 6-,, and B-being side elevations thereof, and Figs. 3, 5, '7, 8, l0, and 11 being sectional views taken on the correspondingly numbered section v lines on Figs. 2, 4 6, 9, and 10 looking inthe directions indicated by the arrows; V Referring toFig. 1-, there is shown therein more or less generally, an illustrative arrangement of metal. frame building construction, hereinafter. called steel-frame building; construction because this is the generally accepted nomenclature, althoughmy invention is not limited tothe use of steel. a

As is, usual in such constructions, the frame may be made up of upright supporting members, in the nature of carrier parts such as columns or intermediates of any usual form, herein shown as angle-section form; and these supports 20 are joined by transverse supporting members in the nature of girders, stretchers, floor or wall supports of any usual structural shape, herein indi-.

cated by channel member 2! and I-beam member 22, which are supported by the upright supports 20 and which in turn support further transverse members 24, 25, ofsuitableform to constitute joists, flooring beams, or partition supporting members, herein illustrated as a channel member (24) and an-I-beam memberi25), respectively. I

If constructed in accordance with the standard practice, these members would either be bolted,

riveted, or pinned together on the'job, requiring though ingeneral such connections as havebeen 5 available have been found so bulky, expensive, difiicult of manipulation or otherwise disadvantageous, as to be most unsatisfactory for use with light structural steel framing as employed in residence construction for example. In following such standard practice a great deal of the construction expense results from the necessity of holding the parts in alignment during the setting of floating pins or other temporary connections preliminary to final bolting, riveting, or welding, and in assembling and securing the connection units in place.

In accordance with my invention such practices are avoided and instead the supporting members and the laterals, indicated by the reference numerals 20 to 25 herein, are provided in advance with special connecting means, comprising in general a supporting element welded or otherwise secured on a supporting member to receive and carry a supported member accurately in position and means interengaging the supporting element with the supported member or lateral so that the latter cannot be laterally dislodged, the parts preferablynbeing so formed that the supported members may be positioned between spaced supporting members after the latter have been secured in position, and. will themselves become secured in place simply by setting them in their correct relative position.

These general provisions may be embodied in various forms, all comprised within the broader aspects of my invention, and accordingly I have illustrated herein several preferred forms of connection. I contemplate that, for convenience, it may be preferable in some buildings to use one form throughout a structure, and in others it may be desirable to standardize on one form for securing all girders to the uprights, another for securing all joists to the girders, and possibly a third for securing sub-joists to the joists.

Thus I have shown in Fig. 1, form A detailed in Figs. 2 and 3; form B detailed in Figs. 4 and 5; form C detailed in Figs. 6, '7, and 8; and form D detailed in Figs. 9 and 10.

Referring to Figs. 2 and 3, illustrating form A, the vertical supporting member 20 has welded to it a supporting element 30, herein of angle form, edge welded to the supporting member along the edges of both its top horizontal leg, and its side vertical leg, so that the vertical leg acts as a brace supporting and strengthening the horizontal leg. The supported member or stretcher member, shown the I-beam 22, has its vertical web cut away as at 3| to clear the horizontal leg of the angle-member 39 so that the remaining upper part 32 of its web may rest thereon as shown. Interengaging means are provided to prevent the member 22 from sliding laterally off the supporting element 36, preferably formed integral therewith. In the construction illustrated, the supporting element 39 is punched with an aperture 34 at that part of its horizontal leg upon which the bearing surface of the web 32 is to rest, and the bearing surface of the stretcher member 22 is provided with a lug 33 projecting downwardly to enter the aperture 34, the lug 33 preferably being left integral with the web portion 32 when the cutout 3! is formed, as shown.

With this construction, as all the interengaging elements are located within the longitudinal limits of the flanges of the stretcher member 22, the latter may readily be swung into place with its ends over and in alinement with the supporting elements 30 carried by spaced supporting members 26, and then lowered to engage its lugs 33 in the apertures 34 in the supporting elements, thus securely and accurately positioning it, either for welding or other treatment for rigidly securing it in place; or in final assembly if no such further treatment is contemplated. This form of connection is particularly desirable where the stretcher member is of a section symmetrical about its vertical web, as members of such cross-section have no tendency to cant over, which facilitates inserting the lug into the aperture, and makes it unnecessary to take other precautions to insure that the supported element will stand true. In this connection, it is advantageous that the element 33 and cut-out 3| be positioned so that the bearing surface, herein the under edge of the web-portion 32, lies above the center line of the member 22, as shown.

Form B, shown in Figs. 4 and 5, is similar in most respects to form A shown in Figs. 2 and 3, differing mainly in that in form B the supporting member 22, an I-beam section, presents a channel face toward the supported member 25, which is an I-beam section; and the supportporting element as, shown as of angle form edge welded to the supporting member, is longer than the supporting element 30 to extend beyond the flanges of the member 22, and is also deeper, extending into engagement with the lower flange at 4|, to obtain added support therefrom, preferably being welded thereto as shown. As indicated in Fig. l, the supported or stretcher member 25 terminates short of the flanges of the member 22, thus avoiding expensive forming of V the parts, and avoiding any cutting away of the supporting member that might weaken the same. The supporting element 40 secured as shown, has ample strength to carry the supported member 25 and such loads as will be sustained thereby, and as in the case of form A, the flanges are continuous to the ends and all cutting of the supported member is confined to the center portion of the web, near the neutral plane, minimizing weakening thereof.

In form C, shown in detail in Figs. 6 to 8, special provision is made to avoid any weakening of the members, and this form provides also for truing the position of supported members which may be non-symmetrical on opposite sides of the vertical web thereof. With these ends in view, the connections are made by welding alone Without cutting or punching the main bearing members, thus eliminating many difficulties and sources of weakness in metal structures of the usual types, and providing for substantially complete fabrication of the parts in advance of the assembling of the structure in the field. The supporting element 5! in the form shown, is of angle-form flat welded to the supporting member 2|, with its horizontal leg standing out at right angles thereto, and with the edge of its vertical leg providing a truing surface as hereinafter more fully described. In the form shown, the supported member 24, which is a channel beam, instead of being cut away to provide a bearing surface, has welded to it, preferably between its top and bottom flanges and within the channel, a bearing member 5|, of angle-form mounted to have its horizontal leg rest on, and

be supported by the horizontal leg of the supporting ele'ment 55. In assembledposition the web of the stretcher member 24 preferably comes into abutting relation with the edge of the vertical leg of the supporting element 50, as at 52,

, supporting element 60 and to aid in truing the stretcher, and because of this abutment a counter-abutment means may be employed to complete the interengaging means preventing displacement. In the form shown this counter-abutment means comprises a lug or retainer 53 depending from the bearing member 51 in spaced relation to the web of the stretcher 24, adapted to drop past an edge of the supporting element 50, which may be the inner edge of a notch formed therein as shown,

to'prevent' displacement of the parts.

As mentioned above, the bearingelement is preferably placed within the channel of the sup- I ported member 24 to confine the connecting structure to an area between the ends of the flanges and within the over all cross-section of the member, thus concealing the connection behind the flange, and making it easy to apply boxing where desired.

In the embodiment of. form D, shown in detail in Figs. 9, 10, and 11, the special advantages of form C are retained and combined with the advantages of edge welding the supporting element. In this form the supporting element 60' is of generally angle-form, preferably so bent as to fit the inner angle between the web and flange of the supported member 2|, illustrated as a channel beam. Thus in thispreferred em-' bodiment, the vertical leg of the supporting element 60 bears against the web of the supported member 2| to maintain it in true alinernent,

while the upper flange of the channel member 2! provides the bearing element, resting upon ,the generally horizontal leg of the supporting element 60. element 60 member 20, its vertical leg extends under and braces its horizontal leg as in the case of forms A and B.

As in form C, the retaining means iscompleted in form D by a counter-abutment means, herein formed most advantageously by striking up a lug or tongue 61 out of the horizontal flange of. the providing the upper At the same time, as the supporting I flange of the stretcher member 2! with an aperupward lifting movement 7 Similar provision can be. of connection, or"

ture 62 to drop over the lug 6| as shown. The'lug 61, in the form shown, is made of such length as to project somewhat above the top of the flange of member-1| so that it may be peened down or otherwise deformed, if this is desirable to secure the parts more firmly and to avoid any possibility of thestretcher member being dislodged by an prior to the placing, of the floors and walls.

temporary wedges or other retaining means may be placed in any of the forms to attain this end, if it be found desirable to do so.

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that the same general principles applied in the several illustrative forms, may be embodied in various constructions and adaptations without departing from my invention. All the ,forms shown have the advantage of enabling the supported or stretcher member to be easily swung and dropped in place between spaced supporting members, even though the latter be already erected firmly in position,- and provide g for immediate release of the crane or other conveyor for further use, thus saving time and expense in erection. Moreover, each of the forms enables accurate setting of the parts to bring their top surfaces flush with one another in a minimum of time.. and represents a. great si1nis edge welded to the supporting her being; provided with place floor, Wall and roof panel's, such asshown for example in my prior Patents Numbers 1,582,173 and"1,825,346, in which use the concrete poured-for the floors, and the panels securedto the steelframe, furnish all bracing ordinarily required. Of course, if different constructions of floor, wall and roof panels are to be employed which would not provide sufficient bracing, then, as above noted, the members, positioned by the simple and effective connection means of my invention, are quickly and ideally anchored for welding together in any of the usual ways. As the drawings of this specification are necessarily simply representative of the widelyvarying structures in which the features of my invention may be embodied, I have not at-' tempted to show in detail any of the many ways in which floor and wall slabs may be embodied, I have not attempted to show in detail any of the many ways in which floor and wall slabs may be erected, but have simply indicated in Fig. 1' a diagramatic representation 10 of any sort of floor slab, to indicate that the weight of the same, applied tothe several stretcher members, is amply eifective to'prevent disengaging of the several retaining means'of the beam-connections where'welding of the parts is unnecessary.

My invention is not limited to the preferred embodiments illustrated herein as a basis for the present specification.

'I claim the following'as my invention: 7

1. A- metal frame for a building comprising a laterally extending slab, said frame including spaced supporting members, a flanged beam member extending freely between said supporting members without overlapping so as to be laterally and vertically movable with respect thereto at its ends prior to the placing of saidslab, said'supporting members having outstand- .ing supporting elements secured thereto and projecting into the space between the lateral and longitudinal limitsof the upper and lower flanges of said beam, the ends of said beam and said supportingelements being formed for interengagement by a sidewise and downward movement of the beam to its predetermined position of assembly, the top and bottom flanges of the beam extending to its ends and the interengaging parts of said beam lying wholly between the inner faces of said top and bottom flanges, so that said beam, when positioned, is carried by resting upon said supporting elements and held against displacement therefrom in any direction by said interengaging parts andL-bysaid slab, and the location of said supporting elements produces a neat, substantially self-concealed, compact, quickly made and secure connection.

2.. A ,metal building frame comprising spaced supporting members, a flanged shape member of a length to extend freely between said spaced members without overlapping and movable vertically with respect thereto at its ends, said spaced members having outstanding supporting elements secured thereto and projecting. into the spa'cebetween the lateral and longitudinal limits of the-upper and lower. flanges of said shape,

saicl'supporting elements and flanged shape meminter-engageable elements at each end of the latter, engageable within said space by a relatively short sidewise and downward movement of the flanged shape member to its predetermined position of assembly, said member when positioned being carried by said supporting elements and held against displacement thereupon by said inter-engaging elements, and presenting a neat, substantially selfconcealing, strong, compact, accurately positioned and quickly made connection.

3. A metal building frame comprising spaced supporting members, a flanged shape member of a length to extend freely between said spaced members without cutting into its flanged portions and movable vertically with respect thereto at its ends, said spaced supporting members having outstanding supporting elements secured thereto in position to lie between the flanges of said shape member, portions of the web of said flanged shape member at its ends being cut away to receive said supporting elements and said web and supporting elements being formed with interengaging parts engageable by a downward movement of. the flanged shape member to its predetermined position of assembly, said member, when positioned, being carried by its web resting on said supporting elements and held against displacement thereupon by said interengaging parts.

4. A metal building frame comprising spaced supporting members, a flanged shape member of a length to extend freely between said spaced members and movable with respect thereto at its ends, said spaced members having outstanding supporting elements secured thereto opposite the ends of said flanged shape member, and provided with means adapted to interengage therewith in assembled position to hold the ends of said flanged shape member against lateral displacement, said supporting elements having vertical and horizontal components and being in the form of angle-members, of less height than said flanged shape member, with a cross-section-edge thereof welded to said supporting members, so that the vertical leg thereof braces the horizontal leg thereof.

5. A metal building frame comprising spaced supporting members, a flanged shape member of a length to extend freely between said spaced members and movable with respect thereto at its ends, said spaced members having outstanding supporting elements secured thereto opposite the ends of said flanged shape member, and provided with means adapted to interengage therewith in assembled position to hold the ends of said flanged shape member against lateral displacement, said supporting elements being in the form of anglemembers, of. less height than said flanged shape member, with a cross-section edge thereof welded to said supporting member, and being formed to fit under the upper flange and against the web of said flanged shape member, and the interengaging means of said supporting elements comprising lugs upstanding from their flange engaging surfaces, and the interengaging means of said flanged shape member comprising apertures formed in the upper flange of each and engaging over said lugs.

6. A building comprising a frame constructed of supporting membersand flanged shape members according to claim 2, and rigid floor slabs carried on said flanged shape members preventing undue distortion of said frame and serving by their weight to retain said members in inter-. engaged position whereby they are secured to said supporting members bythe downward inengaging the web of terengaging connections to said supporting elements.

'7. A metal building frame assembly comprising a supporting frame member, an angle-like member secured to the supporting frame member with one leg substantially horizontal and one leg substantially vertical, said angle-like member having its horizontal leg apertured in spaced relation toisaid supporting frame member, and a supported frame member having a vertical web cut away at its end to receive said supporting angle-like member and having a lug extending from the upper edge of the cut out portion of said web and positioned to enter said aperture, whereby said supported frame member may be swung into engaging position and lowered to engage said lug in said aperture.

8. A building frame assembly according to claim 7, wherein the supporting frame member comprises a vertical web-portion and a horizontal flange, the angle like member is joined to said web-portion and extends beyond said flange and has its aperture located beyond said flange in spaced relation thereto, and said supported frame member terminates short of said flange.

9. A metal building frame comprising flanged beams and spaced supporting members having vertical faces, supporting elements secured to said members opposite the ends of said beams, said supporting elements being in the form of angle-members, of less height than said flanged beams and each arranged with a cross-section edge thereof welded to said supporting member, said angle members being formed to fit under the upper flange and against the web at the ends.

of said beams, and interengaging means on said beams and said supporting elements comprising lugs engaging complementary apertures formed to prevent lateral movement of one with respect to the other.

10. A building comprising a laterally extending slab and a support therefor including spaced supporting members, a plurality of flanged beam members each extending freely between said supporting members so as to be laterally and vertically movable with respect thereto at its ends, said supporting members having brackets secured thereto substantially shallower than the depth of the beams to be supported thereby and lying between the lateral limits of the upper and lower flanges thereof, the ends of each beam and its supporting brackets being formed for interengagement by a slight sidewise and downward movement of the beam to its predetermined posi tion of assembly, the interengaging parts of each beam lying substantially within the longitudinal limits and between the outer faces of its top and bottom flanges, so that said beams, when positioned, are carried by said brackets and held against displacement therefrom by said interengaging elements and the slab resting thereon.

11. A connection for the members of a metal building frame comprising a supporting member having a vertical face and a supported member carried thereby of flanged shape, said supported member being disposed at an angle to the vertical face of said supporting member with its flanges horizontal, the web of said supported member being coextensive and symmetrical with respect to the flanges, saidconnection including a notch formed in. the end of the web of the supported member and a bracket secured to the vertical face of the supporting -member, said bracket having a projecting seat entering said notch and the supported memberat the upper edge of said notch to position and support the end of said supported member, whereby said members may be easily assembled and retain themselves in place.

12. A metal building frame comprising spaced supporting members, a flanged shape member of a length to extend freely between said spaced members without overlapping and movable with respect thereto at its ends, said spaced members having outstanding supporting elements secured thereto and projecting into the space between the lateral and longitudinal limits of the upper and lower flanges of said shape, said supporting elements and flanged shape member being provided with horizontally disposed bearing elements having means for preventing sidewise displacement thereof at each end of the latter, en-

.gageable within said space by a relatively short lateral movement of the flanged shape member to its predetermined position of assembly, said member when positioned being carried by said supporting elements and held against displacement thereupon by said last mentioned means, and presenting a neat, substantially self-concealing, strong, compact, accurately positioned and quickly made connection.

THOMAS J. FOSTER. 

